Founded a couple of years ago, Zeepay is now a leader in the mobile money service sphere with ambitious plans of going beyond the SIM-enabled transaction currently in operation.
The Ghanaian fintech company, Zeepay, which provides integrated mobile payments services, took the top award as the Startup of the Year at the 2017 Premium Bank Ghana Startup Awards held at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra.
According to Andrew Takyi-Appiah, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Zeepay, the revolutionary innovation Zeepay has brought on board has made it stand out from the rest. “We appreciate this award, which goes to show that we are a cut above the plate and we are not relenting in our efforts to do what is best with technology,” he said.
He noted that the company is working towards a future where cash is light with people simply tapping their phones to pay for goods and services.
“Because we are not card people, Zeepay, is designed around that. We believe the mobile networks have done a wonderful job in creating all these wallets before we came to market. So, let’s make it transactional.
To make it transactional, you need to scale it up, so that the wallets now have near field communication (NFC) technology feature; which is basically the idea that you tap your phone; you put your pin in and then you pay. It is simply a look up feature that is able to encrypt and decrypt, therefore makes it safe for financial services,” he said.
Aside being able to pay for services, Zeepay allows for cross platforming, also known as interoperability. The present condition means that mobile money users on different networks can either not send money to one another or have to endure higher charges for crossing the platform.
The company recently, in collaboration with other institutions, launched the Digital for Inclusion (D4I) programme, an initiative to improve the digital economy through interconnection that will create 4,000 jobs, directly and indirectly.
The programme is developed with the goal of expanding Ghana’s digital economy, expanding financial inclusion and creating economic opportunities for historically underserved and financially excluded populations throughout the country.
Part of the project is to train thousands of young Ghanaians, to be known as D4I entrepreneurs who will be visiting smallholder cocoa communities and the Zongo communities to open them up to main economy and deepen financial inclusion.
In the coming years, D4I aims to expand and improve the inclusive aspect of the local economies it operates in and to develop the digital economy and entrepreneurial programmes throughout the country.
D4I will leverage digital (to make these often-marginalized communities connected to data), entrepreneurial support and training and access to financial services:-domestic transfers, remittances, micro lending, and micro insurance.
With more than 30,000 users, partners include oil marketing company, Star Oil, Airtel Money, Glico, Tigo Cash, GT Bank and Firstrust Savings and Loans Company. It now has operations not just in Ghana, but in the United Kingdom and they terminate transactions into 10 African countries including Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria.
The Ghana Startups Awards is an annual award ceremony that celebrates ambitious and indigenous start-up businesses that are making impact, contributing to economic growth, meeting social needs and putting Ghana on the global economic map.
Other winners were Asoriba, ExpressPay, Glitz Africa and Creo Concepts, Kantanka Automobile, Quik Medical Consult, Trotro Tractor, Food for All Africa Programme, Dough Man Foods, Wear Ghana, Tonaton, and My Home Teacher.
